The communications industry is rapidly changing to adjust to emerging technologies and ever increasing customer demand. This customer demand for new applications and increased performance of existing applications is driving communications network and system providers to employ networks and systems having greater speed and capacity (e.g., greater bandwidth). In trying to achieve these goals, a common approach taken by many communications providers is to use packet switching technology.
Layer-4 to layer-7 services are often applied to packets being sent through a packet switching device. Service Insertion Architecture, such as that disclosed in US Patent Application Publication 2008/0177896 A1 published Jul. 24, 2008, teaches one approach to providing network services outside the packet switching device.